Epistemic Ruptures in South African Standpoint Knowledge-Making: Academic Feminism and the #FeesMustFall Movement

Abstract

Alongside the many structural and political processes generated by the #FeesMustFall student protests between 2015 and 2016 were narratives and discourses about revitalising the transformation of universities throughout South Africa. It was the very notion of “transformation,” diluted by neo-liberal macro-economic restructuring from the late 1990s, that students jettisoned as they increasingly embraced the importance of “decolonisation.” By exploring some of the key debates and interventions driven by the #FeesMustFall movement, we consider how earlier trajectories of feminist knowledge-making resonate with these. The article also reflects on how aspects of intellectual activism within the student protests can deepen and push back the frontiers of contemporary South African academic feminism. In so doing, it explores how radical knowledge-making at, and about, universities, has contributed to radical political thought in South Africa.

(De)colonising outcomes of community participation – a South African ethnography of ‘ethics in practice’

“…For example, decolonising, community-engaged scholarship is enshrined in higher education policy (Williams, 2018). Many South African students have embraced the notion of ‘decolonising’ higher education (Lewis & Hendricks, 2017).…”

Rapid Photovoice as a Close-Up, Emancipatory Methodology in Student Experience Research: The Case of the Student Movement Violence and Wellbeing Study

“…The protests continued with increased violence in 2016 (Langa, 2017;Morwe et al, 2020;Naidoo, 2015). The #FeesMustFall-related campaigns primarily focused on the rising costs of higher education faced by students and their inability to access sufficient funding, along with other social justice matters such as the plight of outsourced support workers at universities; inadequate student accommodation; and the generally poor living conditions of socio-economically disadvantaged students (Lewis & Hendricks, 2017;Luescher & Klemenčič, 2017). The #Fees-MustFall campaign was preceded and followed by other student campaigns on university campuses across the country which dealt with issues of institutionalized racism; genderbased violence; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students; language discrimination, and so forth (for example, #RhodesMustFall; #OpenStellenbosch; and #RUReferenceList) (Ahmed, 2017;Tumubweinee & Luescher, 2019).…”

African science and global opinions

“…In South Africa, much of the focus in issues of transformation of the sciences, especially in the post-#FeesMustFall era, has been on inequality in South Africa itself, and questions of access for people formerly excluded from higher education. [5][6][7][8] This is appropriate and necessary, and theorists have been careful to link current issues to colonial and apartheid history. The contradictions around the early identification of the Omicron variant, however, refocus our attention on ongoing global politics and its influence on contemporary scientific practice and perceptions of science.…”